Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 100-400 for Bird Photography – First Impressions

Pukeko – Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

I have been lucky to have had a chance to do some testing of the just released Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S for bird photography. The Z9 has been long anticipated as Nikon’s first Pro mirrorless body. In my opinion the Nikon mirrorless bodies to date have not been able to match their DSLR bodies for birds in flight as I discussed in this post. I think the Z9 finally changes the equation and at least now matches the DSLR AF performance. It may even be better but I will need more time and testing before I can confidently say that, as it is a different way of working and I am still exploring the benefits of the different focus modes. Initial impressions are very positive though with Auto area AF with eye detection rapidly locating and locking onto flying birds against clean backgrounds. Wide Area (L) AF equally seems to work well in this scenario with potential benefits with busier backgrounds.

Pukeko - Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
Pukeko – Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

I have had issues with Electronic Viewfinders (EVF) for flying birds but the Z9 has removed this completely. There is no shutter blackout and no lag due to the Expeed 7 dual stream processing providing a direct feed from sensor to viewfinder. The only residual hesitation I have around an EVF is the reduced resolution compared to an optical viewfinder (OVF) but now I think the balance has shifted to where the EVF benefits outweigh those of the OVF. I anticipate that the Z9ii will have a higher resolution EVF.

Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

In terms of size, I find the Z9 very comfortable being smaller and lighter than the gripped D850 that I am used to using. It reminds me of my D3s, just more petite and balances beautifully with the Nikkor Z 100-400. I must confess that my biggest niggle is that the image preview button has moved from top left to bottom right and this will take a bit of getting used to.

Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

The 20fps frame rate is something to get used to. It will be beneficial in capturing optimal wing positions for flying birds as I often found series shot at 9-10 fps on the D850 or D500 would capture similar wing positions as the rate coincided with a multiple of the bird’s wing flap cycle.

Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

I am working with my old XQD memory cards as the fast CF Express type B that I have ordered is stuck in transit due to the holidays. Despite this I have only run into the buffer limit twice. This was using lossless compressed RAW+ JPG fine so anticipate that this will be a non-issue with faster cards. The latest Adobe Lightroom update supports the RAW conversion so I will revert to my usual practice of shooting RAW only and will try the new High Efficiency RAW which provides much smaller files.

Pukeko Portrait - Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
Pukeko Portrait – Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

Moving to the Nikkor Z 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 VR S lens. This is a sharp lens and is going to be a very useful combination with the Z9. As suggested by Nikon’s published MTF charts the new Z100-400 outperforms the F mount 80-400 but whether this is of significance depends on the user and especially intended output as I covered in this post.

NZ Dabchick family- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
NZ Dabchick family- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S. Eye AF in Wide Area AF picked out the eye on rippling water.

The Z 100-400 balances a little better than the F mount 80-400 as it extends less so remains well balanced at full extension. Nikon’s “Inner Balance Technology” may play a part in this or it may just be a marketing tool. The bottom line is that it is a well balanced lens even when fully zoomed to 400mm. My enduring question is why the big manufactures can’t just machine an Arca Swiss dovetail into their lens feet? What would it cost and what do they stand to lose? Really Right Stuff and Kirk make lovely replacement feet but currently the cost of shipping to New Zealand far outweighs the cost of the foot and makes it prohibitive.

NZ Dabchick feeding chick - Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
NZ Dabchick feeding chick – Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

The sharpness of the lens makes me interested to explore how it performs with a 1.4x teleconverter and I will report on this once I have had a chance to test it. To date I have only found teleconverters to work acceptably with prime telephotos but the sharpness I am seeing in the RAW files from the Z 100-400 gives me some hope that it will deliver acceptable results with a teleconverter too.

Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S
Little Shag in flight- Nikon Z9 with Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S

This is a quick selection of images shot on a single brief trip at the end of the day and exported from Lightroom. My old iMac cannot run the latest versions of Lightroom and Photoshop so I am needing to process these on my MacBook so none of these images have been through my complete usual workflow. All photos with the Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 100-400 f4.5-5.6 VR S lens.

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